It's also a Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail site that attracted Wes Teets, 24, to become an interpreter and birding and nature specialist at Natural Bridge, which is just off the Blue Ridge Parkway and Interstate 81.

Starting in March and continuing through fall, Wes gives "story of the bridge" presentations and guided nature walks. A biology graduate of Longwood University, he's been a birder since 2007, doing field trips for the Virginia Society of Ornithology.

"Warblers are my favorite bird that comes through in spring and fall," he says.

"They are the birds that got me into birding. They're colorful and called the butterflies of the bird world. I also love the Louisiana water thrush, a warbler that lives under Natural Bridge, where I hear them and watch them nest."

Winter is also a nice season for birds, he says. Winter finches come down from the north because food up north is scarce. The white-winged crossbill does the same, looking for food in spruces. A yellow-bellied sapsucker can be spotted on the way to the bridge by Cascade Creek where there's a tree full of holes left by the sapsucker as he drills the bark, looking for insects in the sap.

Spring is the best time to hear birds, Teets says. In addition to warblers, there's the scarlet tanager and Indigo Bunting.

"The warblers like the flowering deciduous trees in spring and stay all the way at the top," he says.

"In fall, they're on the ground — Tennessee and Nashville warblers— where the flowers are, like asters, picking out insects with their narrow bills," he says.

"There are tons of Cape May warblers on the trail, a very cool-looking bird, in the trees during fall."

Butterflies and more

During summer, Teets switches his focus on the guided walk to invertebrates — butterflies, katydids, crickets and grasshoppers — all the little guys that make summer so special.

"I've seen an unusual butterfly, a rare subspecies of the red-spotted purple, the white admiral," he says.

"Summer is best to see lots of different butterflies. Fall is when you see monarchs coming over; there are a couple days when I've seen hundreds of them."

Pale touch-me-nots with exploding seed pods are his favorite plants. He finds it amazing and amusing that you can cure a stinging nettle wound with the touch-me-not, and appreciates the fact that the nettles are host plants to red admiral, eastern comma and eastern question mark butterflies.

"It's fun to see the interaction among the species here, the natural order of things," he says.

"I'm hearing and seeing things and pointing them out, things people wouldn't see otherwise, bringing the trail experiences to life."

You can win a weekend getaway for four to Natural Bridge during the Hampton Roads Home & Garden Show Feb. 8-10 at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton. The drawing will take place Sunday afternoon. Learn more about the show at http://www.hamptonroadshomeshow.com, and about Natural Bridge at http://www.naturalbridgeva.com.